The Promised Rest

Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware[a] that none of you be found to have fallen short.[b] For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.[c](A) For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what[d] he has said,

So I swore in my anger,
“They will not enter my rest,”[e](B)

even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.[f](C) Again, in that passage he says, They will never enter my rest.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Lit fear
  2. 4:1 Or that any of you might seem to have missed it
  3. 4:2 Other mss read since it was not united by faith in those who heard
  4. 4:3 Or rest, just as
  5. 4:3 Ps 95:11
  6. 4:4 Gn 2:2
  7. 4:5 Ps 95:11

Enter the rest

Therefore, since the promise that we can enter into rest is still open, let’s be careful so that none of you will appear to miss it. We also had the good news preached to us, just as the Israelites did. However, the message they heard didn’t help them because they weren’t united in faith with the ones who listened to it. We who have faith are entering the rest. As God said,

And because of my anger I swore:
        They will never enter into my rest![a]

And yet God’s works were completed at the foundation of the world. Then somewhere he said this about the seventh day of creation: God rested on the seventh day from all his works.[b] But again, in the passage above, God said, They will never enter my rest![c]

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